Archive

mcpublic writes “For years the Computer History Museum has been quietly collecting and displaying the computational relics of yesteryear. Now, finally the New York Times Arts Section shines the spotlight on this most nerdy of museums. Speak Steampunk? You can find a working replica of Babbage’s Difference Engine in the lobby of the museum’s Mountain View, California home. Of course, the vast majority of the collection is electronic, and though ‘big iron’ is king, that hasn’t stopped dedicated volunteers from bringing back to life pioneering ‘mini’ computers like the 1960 PDP-1 and the first video game software ever: Spacewar!“

New submitter sirlark writes “‘Researchers at the University of Auckland tested an interactive 3D fantasy game called Sparx on a 94 youngsters diagnosed with depression whose average age was 15 and a half. Sparx invites a user to take on a series of seven challenges over four to seven weeks in which an avatar has to learn to deal with anger and hurt feelings and swap negative thoughts for helpful ones. Used for three months, Sparx was at least as effective as face-to-face conventional counselling, according to several depression rating scales. In addition, 44% of the Sparx group who carried out at least four of the seven challenges recovered completely. In the conventional treatment group, only 26% recovered fully.’ One has to wonder if it’s Sparx specifically — or gaming in general — that provides the most benefit, given that most of the symptoms of depression relate to a feeling of being unable to influence one’s environment (powerlessness, helplessness, ennui, etc) and games are specifically designed to make one feel powerful but challenged (if they hit the sweet spot).”

adeelarshad82 writes “The 1980s were huge for RPGs. This genre was one of the most defining game forms in the computer gaming world. A recently published article strolls down the memory lane to look back at classic computer games that both defined and extended the definition of the RPG in the 1980s. The roundup includes some obvious ones like Ultima and The Bard’s Tale, and others which you may never have heard of.”

garthsundem writes “As described in the NY Times Economix blog, the mattress chain Sleepy’s analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey to find the ten most sleep deprived professions. In order, they are: Home Health Aides, Lawyer, Police Officers, Doctors/Paramedics, Tie: (Economists, Social Workers, Computer Programmers), Financial Analysts, Plant Operators (undefined, but we assume ‘factory’ and not ‘Audrey II’), and Secretaries.”

sciencehabit writes “In a new study, neuroscientists connected a network of electrodes to the hearing centers of 15 patients’ brains and recorded the brain activity while they listened to words like ‘jazz’ or ‘Waldo.’ They saw that each word generated its own unique pattern in the brain. So they developed two different computer programs that could reconstruct the words a patient heard just by analyzing his or her brain activity. Reconstructions from the better of the two programs were good enough that the researchers could accurately decipher the mystery word 80% to 90% percent of the time. Because there’s evidence that the words we hear and the words we recall or imagine trigger similar brain processes, the study suggests scientists may one day be able to tune in to the words you’re thinking.”

McGruber writes “The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper is reporting that a hospital with campuses in Lawrenceville and Duluth, Georgia turned ambulances away after the discovery of ‘a system-wide computer virus that slowed patient registration and other operations.’ They’re only currently accepting patients with ‘dire emergencies.’ A spokeswoman for the hospital said the diversion happened because ‘it’s a trauma center and needs to be able to respond rapidly.’ The situation began on Thursday afternoon and is expected to last through the weekend.”

cultiv8 writes “When Miguel Hanson and his fiancee, Diana Wesley, got married on Saturday, a computer program Hanson wrote served as the minister. During the wedding, held in the Houston home of Hanson’s parents, the couple stood before a 30-inch monitor in the backyard. In a robotic voice, the computer greeted the guests, and told how the couple met.”

jfruhlinger writes “If you listened to tech marketing departments, you’d believe that advances in computers have been a nonstop march upwards. But is that really true? What about all the great features early hackers had in the ’70s and ’80s that are now hard to find or lost forever, like clicky keyboards and customizable screen height? This article looks at much beloved features that lost the evolutionary war.”

An anonymous reader writes “Bad news: a Canadian who visited New York had his laptop stolen. Good news: it was outfitted with Prey, the open-source computer tracking application. Better news: a group in NYC made a ‘geek squad intervention,’ faced the culprit and retrieved the laptop safely. This case naturally raises the usual sorts of questions about the ‘Twitter posse’ culture.” The victim-turned-victor is author and consultant Sean Power.